Last week somebody shared a talk by F.J.G. Janssens (in Dutch) discussing 4 myths in education. Although the myths all deserve attention (homework, repeating a grade, ability grouping), one myth made me wonder if it’s truly a myth: teacher make the biggest difference in education.

It’s something I’ve been saying myself in talks, but maybe I was wrong. Well, it depends.

If you look e.g. at this earlier research on what is the influence of e.g. heritability on test scores with an influence of over 50 procent, one could say the biggest influence on education is the child itself. This is also…

So you’ve graduated and landed a job – congratulations! You have made the first step in what can be one of the most rewarding professions around.

The alarming news is that not all new teachers make it. In fact, research shows that about 30% of new teachers don’t make it past their first five years in the profession. It’s unnerving. Do you want to be part of this 30 percent?

It’s time to take charge of your own destiny and keep your career on track. How? By being aware of these 6 common mistakes that new teachers make and then avoiding them.

I was making a presentation about how to raise reading achievement. I was taking my audience through research on what needed to be taught and how it needed to be taught if kids were to do as well as possible. I was telling about my experiences as director of reading of the Chicago Public Schools at a time when my teachers raised reading achievement.

When I finished, a teacher approached me. “What do you think is the most important variable in higher reading achievement?”

A study on how little children (just like apes) use tools without somebody showing them how seems like a fun article to share, but you might overlook an important detail: this study claims to proof one of the more well known theorists in education, Lev Vygotksy, wrong on one point of his theory.

From the press release:

Young children will spontaneously invent tool behaviours to solve novel problems, without the help of adults, much as non-human great apes have been observed to do. The findings, from the University of Birmingham, are contrary to the popular belief that basic tool use in…

America prides itself on being way ahead of the rest of the world in its treatment of people with special needs. And sure, The U.S. probably has more accessible buildings, studded curb cuts, and special ed support services per capita than any other place on earth. More therapists, therapy rooms, weighted vests, preferential seating, FM-systems, enlarged screens, sign language interpreters, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, assistive communication, IEP meetings, extra time on tests, offices of disability services, etc., etc.. The U.S. can probably also boast more pro-special needs…